


Late Nights are for Lonely People

by s1lverwren



Series: 12 days of christmas [7]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Not Beta Read, could be interpreted platonic or romantic, i guess there's angst but just a sprinkle you know, in which jj is not coping too well and elle is there to comfort her, it's up to you
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-10 09:00:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27967964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/s1lverwren/pseuds/s1lverwren
Summary: After JJ's first face-to-face encounter with an unsub, she's left shaken up. She comes to Elle for comfort(post-"Ride the Lightning")
Relationships: Elle Greenaway & Jennifer "JJ" Jareau, Elle Greenaway/Jennifer "JJ" Jareau
Series: 12 days of christmas [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2045071
Kudos: 19





	Late Nights are for Lonely People

**Author's Note:**

> tumblr saw it first. i'm behind and tired so please excuse the poor writing

There was a rapid knocking at her door, just barely heard over the cascading sound of rain on her roof. Elle leaned onto her countertops with a sigh. Her eyes were barely open after that case, she _really_ did not want to deal with someone at this ungodly hour.

Glancing at the clock on her way to the door, she scoffed. “I hope you know what time it is!” she scolded as she swung the door open, “I’d really- oh.”

She stopped short in her beratement. Standing in front of her was an incredibly disheveled Jennifer Jareau. The liaison was clutching a bag over her shoulder and her hair was dripping with rainwater. Elle stared at her with an open mouth. 

“JJ, hi,” she greeted with an exhale. “Not to sound rude, but it’s two am and pouring rain, why are you here?”

JJ’s voice was small as she responded, “Can I stay here tonight?”

Elle blinked and raised her eyebrows. Her chest tightened as she took in JJ’s state again. The blonde had never seemed so… small. The hand that wasn’t gripping the bag was wrapped around her midsection. Her hair was flattened by the rain, and she was wearing a sweatshirt that Elle vaguely recognized as Morgan’s. It swallowed her.

“Uh, yeah, sure.” She reached out as JJ stepped forward, placing her hand on the small of the other woman’s back. The door shut once JJ had been ushered in, Elle leaned her back on the white surface.

“Are you okay?”

JJ was looking around the living room with an empty look in her eyes. “I couldn’t be alone.”

That was enough for Elle and she nodded, pushing off the door. “Here, let me get you some clothes, you’re soaking.”

She made a move to walk to her bedroom, but a gentle- and frigid- hand placed on her forearm stopped her. 

“Are you sure this is okay? Me staying here?”

Elle smiled lightly. “Absolutely. One sec’.”

Once out of sight of JJ, Elle let out a heavy sigh. “Not how I thought this evening would go,” she muttered under her breath, reaching out to her dresser. “Why don’t pretty women show up when I’m presentable? Or at least when I’ve had more than three hours of sleep in the past forty eight hours.”

She grabbed a shirt and a pair of sweatpants and made her way back to the living room. JJ barely took notice of her when she returned, as she was staring at the framed pictures Elle had hung on the wall.

“Who’s this?” she asked, pointing a finger at a photo of a smiling police officer. 

Elle paused, wordlessly handing off the pile of clothes. “That’s my dad,” was her simple response.

From her peripherals, she saw JJ turn to her with furrowed eyebrows, but she kept her eyes on her father. JJ rubbed her back slightly and moved towards the bathroom.

At the sound of the door opening and closing, Elle tore her eyes away from the image of her dad. Her eyes burned, but she didn’t know if it was from tears prickling at them or if it was the lack of sleep. Either way, she didn’t make an attempt to fall asleep, and instead went to her television stand. She dragged the tip of her finger along her library of dvds.

The door to the bathroom opened and closed once again, and Elle smiled at the sound of the too long sweatpants dragging on the floor as JJ walked in. 

“Seriously, thank you for this.”

Elle turned to her with a smile, and rather than acknowledging, held up a copy of _You’ve Got Mail_. “Cheesy rom-com, anyone?”

About halfway through the film, it became increasingly apparent that Elle would not be able to focus on it. JJ had curled into her side, and it was a miracle that she didn’t notice the rapid beating of Greenaway’s heart. It was hard to watch the movie on the flickering screen in front of the pair rather than in the reflection of JJ’s eyes.

Elle felt the need to speak, to break the comfortable silence that had blanketed them. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Tearing her eyes from Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, JJ looked at Elle with softer eyes. “About what?” she asked, but they both knew what.

Elle raised one eyebrow and adjusted her legs slightly. Silently, she invited the blonde to speak on why she was there.

“Jacob Dawes,” JJ said, her voice barely audible.

The man who had just been executed only a day before. 

“I… talked to him. I played cards with him. I mean, I volunteered to do it- it was my idea. I just… I just didn’t think it would be so…” she trailed off, leaving a million unspoken words hanging in the air.

JJ was sitting up by now, legs crossed, completely facing Elle on the couch. She had one hand resting in her lap, and the other lying on the back of the couch. The other woman’s hands lie in a similar manner. There was barely any space between their outstretched fingertips.

“I’m not like you guys. I don’t face these people. I don’t-” she interrupted herself again, swallowing harshly. “I’m not used to actually talking to them, actually facing them. I can talk about them and look at what they do without pause, but interacting with them is different.”

The only sound in the room was that of soft jazz from the movie, and lights flickered over the two of them. 

_“You have no cash. She has no cash. She has no cash.”_

Elle contemplated for a moment, drumming her fingers slightly. “I think… Miss Jareau, I think you are one of the bravest, smartest, most talented people I know. I think that you going face-to-face with a prolific serial killer, knowing you look like what you look like, is one of the most bad-ass things you could have done.”

JJ huffed lightly and propped her head up on the couch. “I just can’t stop seeing his face.”

“And you won’t.”

“I know. How do you do it?”

Elle reached out and grabbed JJ’s hand. When the blonde didn’t pull away, Elle smiled wryly and eyed their interlaced fingers, watching as the lights from the movie danced over them.

“Sometimes I can’t. Sometimes I come home and all I can think of is the maniac we brought in, what he did, and how many more of him there are in the world.” She looked up, meeting JJ’s eyes. “But then I think of all the good I was doing- that we were doing. How many lives we’ve saved, how many bad guys we’ve kept from wreaking havoc on the world. Then it gets better.”

JJ nodded. “Sometimes, with all we see, it’s hard to remember there’s good in the world.” 

It was a heavy sentiment, and Elle looked away to watch the screen with thoughtful eyes. “Yeah. Yeah, it is. But then I watch a bad movie, or I think about my dad, or I get to see you and I remember.”

Exhaustion was getting to the both of them. Elle watched with thinly veiled amusement as JJ’s eyelids shuttered close and shot back open. The dry, burning sensation had returned, but this time it was obvious it was from the lack of sleep. 

With no words being spoken to indicate so, the conversation had ended, and the focus had turned back to the movie. JJ tucked back into Elle’s side, but this time, their hands were interlocked, placed in the very little space between them. 

Very little was making noise other than the television, which was still lighting the room in an array of colors. Elle heard the soft and rhythmic breathing of JJ, even as she was on the edge of sleep. 

“JJ?” Elle asked, not sure if the woman was awake. The response she received was a light hum that she felt vibrate against her side. “You know that anytime you need another night like this, I’m always here?”

A softly exhaled “yeah” was her answer, barely over heard of the budding romance on-screen, but that was enough for her.


End file.
